I should really check my military email more often.  Apparently, the U.S. embassy in Iraq is holding a gay pride celebration. My first sergeant notified me of this when he asked, “What gay icon are you going to dress up as for the party?”

I didn’t know what he was talking about until he explained the email.  I had to think about it for a minute before making sense of the situation.  Department of Defense civilians, contractors, and other civilians aren’t under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy.  They can hold all the gay pride celebrations they wish and be open with their coworkers.  Many of them are protected under nondiscrimination policies of their employers.

“It’s a shame what they’re doing to soldiers,” my First Sergeant said.  I assumed that he meant this negatively.  It seems whenever anyone says anything on the subject of gays it is going to be negative.  Very rarely do you have someone fight for gays – and even rarer is it when a dinosaur like my First Sergeant would go against the crowd.

I told my First Sergeant that I would have gone as ‘Big Gay Al’ from that cartoon “South Park.”  I don’t think he’s much of an icon, but the character seemed pretty recognizable.  I don’t think my seargeant knew who this was, because he quickly changed the subject to another cartoon – and then the whole gay subject was lost to this new conversation.

Many of you in the past have chastised me for not taking possible openings further.  I didn’t think it would have gotten me anywhere – but maybe I should go for broke and see if my assumptions hold up.

In situations such as mine where soldiers work so closely with personnel who are permitted to be open about being gay, there should be some type of diversity training to help protect the civilian personnel from the supported doctrine of hate in the military.

It would also be a good launching point for when  – or IF, according to Robert Gates – DADT is eventually repealed.  Did I mention how much I hate that word IF in this context?  Some progressive leader over on the DOD civilian side should realize this opportunity and run with it.

I confess I know I made a mistake in immediately jumping to choose the character ‘Big Gay Al.’  I think I should retrain myself to immediately think of some other important gay historical figures instead of such a campy character.  His character is built to carry all those stereotypes that our opponents like to use against us.

In the future, if I can use a historical figure such as ‘Harvey Milk’, who has some recognition now, maybe a line of questioning on this person will open up.  This will allow me to clear away some of the ignorance toward the ‘gay agenda.’  Or maybe I would just get an evil eye as my First Sergeant pokes fun at me for knowing about “them gays.”  But an evil eye, I would risk.